Winterreise (Winter Journey)

It is with great sadness that I read today of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s passing on Friday.   Like many of us, I grew up with Fischer-Dieskau’s interpretations of Schubert’s Winterreise. and I think of Fischer-Dieskau’s understated but perfectly controlled singing as the standard for male vocal excellence.  For me, Fischer-Dieskau defined German song. 

Winterreise is so demanding on the singer and listener – its lyrics apparently vapid and empty, but its song technically, emotionally, and melodically difficult.  The escape in the night of the jilted lover, and his despair, longing for death, and ultimate reconciliation to loneliness are among the most affecting music ever scored.  The underlying story of its composition is also filled with tragedy:   Schubert’s suffering from late stages of syphilis (to what would lead to his death at age 31 the next year.)  The problem for most singers is that they play the song too emotionally – creating an unrealistic effect (and in particular, one unfit for the utter nullity of the underlying songs).  Fischer-Dieskau’s recitals were neither too emotional or too cold – rather he seemed to be able to completely transcend himself and become one with the complete and utter bleakness in his recitals.

Some resources:

• Fischer-Dieskau 1965 recording of Winterreise with Joerg Demus
• Fischer-Dieskau 1979 video of Winterreise with Alfred Brendel
• Fischer-Dieskau’s 1985 recordings of Schubert Lieder (including Winterreise) with Gerald Moore (a bargain at $32.51 for 24 hours of song)
• The Fischer-Dieskau Book of Lieder (with original German and English translations by George Bird and Richard Stokes)
• Susan Youen’s Retracing a Winter’s Journey:  Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise”
• Schubert’s Complete Song Cycles (Score with English and German)
• A tenor version of Winterreise (Werner Guera)